Incubator.



F. A. REIBER.

INGUBATOR,

APPLICATION FILED 0015.28, 1912.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

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HE NORRIS PErERs ca. PHOTO-LITHO.. WASHINGION. n C.

F. A. REIBER.

/ INGUBATOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28, 1912.

1, 1 97,6?9. Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS (20., PHOTO-LITHOI. WASHINGTON, DV 6 P. A. REIBER.

INOUBATOR. APPLICATION FILED 001:. 28, 1912.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

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THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTO-LITHQ, WASHING WM. 1). c.

' l the brooding chamber.

FRANK A. REIBER, OF GREENVILLE, 01110..

INCUBATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 9, 1915.

Application filed October 28, 1912. Serial No. 728,305.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK A. REIBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Greenville, in the county of Darke and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Incubators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in incubators, the object of the invention being to provide an incubator for hatching chickens having a special construction and arrangement of parts whereby it is believed that the hatching operation may be more conveniently and economically carried out with less consumption of fuel and with better control of the heat, and also with superior distribution of the heat than in such devices now on the market with which I am familiar.

Another object of the invention is to provide an incubator of this character which will possess advantages in points of efiiciency and durability, is inexpensive of manufacture and at the same time is simple in construction and operation.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claims and shown in the accompanying drawings, in wh1cl1 Figure 1 is a perspective view of an incubator constructed in accordance with my invention, Fig. 2 is a top plan View the cover being removed, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view, Fig. 1 is a sectional view on the line a e of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the hood which covers Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 88 of Fig. 1. Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view illustrating a modified form of the cone which is arranged in the boiler. Fig. 10 is a detail perspective view illustrating a modified form of the plate which is adapted to close and open in the end of the body of the incubator.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 indicates the body of the incubator which may be of any suitable shape, and is suitably supported by means of the legs 2 arranged at the corners thereof. The body of the incubator is provided at each end thereof with the air openings 3 which are arranged in the bottom of the body and allow the air to pass upwardly into said body along the end walls thereof.

The body of the incubator is divided into two compartments, namely, the lower compartment 1 which constitutes a temporary brooder or nursery chamber, and the upper compartment 5 which constitutes the egg chamber. Arranged within the body and secured to each end thereof are the brackets 6 upon which the ends of the egg tray 7 are adapted to rest. Arranged over the chamber 4 is a hood 8, the ends of which are adapted to rest upon the pins 9, said hood bemg provided upon one side thereof with a chute 10 which extends upwardly into the egg chamber and adapted to communicate with the opening 11 formed in the egg tray.

Hingedly secured to one side of the body of the incubator is a door 12 which is adapted to close an opening 13, said door being provided with a suitable glass window 14 to admit light to the egg chamber. It will be apparent from the above that the object of the temporary brooder or nursery is to receive the hatched chickens so that they cannot interfere with the eggs which have not yet been hatched. The young chickens after being hatched will be drawn toward the light which is admitted through the window i l and in this manner they will be conveyed by means of the chute 10 to the nursery chamber 1, as the opening 11 which opens into the chute 10 is directly beneath the window 14:. A curtain 15 is arranged across the lower end of the chute and pre vents the air from the brooding chamber from entering the egg chamber.

It will be observed that the'nursery chamber i terminates short of the side walls of the body so as to provide an air space 16 to admit fresh air to the nursery. The admittance of air is controlled by means of the pivoted shutters 17 and by the sliding shutters 18 which are arranged upon the outer wall of the chamber 4: and provided with a plurality of openings 19 adapted to register with the openings 20 formed in the walls of the chamber so that the entrance of air can he quickly cut off if desired.

Arranged at one end of the body 1 is a suitable boiler 21 which is connected to the heating pipes 22 and 23 by means of the tube 24 so that the heated water from the boiler will quickly circulate through the pipes 22 and 23 and be conveyed down into the nursery chamber by means of the pipe 25 which empties into the tubular heater 26 arranged within the nursery chamber. It

will be apparent that when the water, after passing through the pipes 22 and 23 reaches the heater 26, it will be of slightly lower temperature and will be almost cool when it reaches-the boiler through the return pipe 27. "The' cool water from the heating tube 26 returns into the boiler at the extreme bottom thereof, so that the water, when returned to the boiler, will be directly above the flame from the heater, so that it is at once'heated'and again passed through the tube 24to the pipes'22 and 23'. 'A vertically disposed tube 28 is connected to one of the pipes 23 whereby the circulating systom may be quickly filled, and an overflow pipe 29 communicates with the inter-section of the'tube'28 and pipe 23 whereby any superfluous water may be removed from the system. A drain tube 30 is arrangedin the pipe 27 and is adapted to drain off all water within the pipes and in the boiler. Vertically disposed guide members 31, are arranged in one end of the body of the incubator and are adapted to hold the pipe 25 in its operative position. The end of the body opposite the guides 31 is provided with a vertically disposed recess 32 in which the pipes 24' and 27 are disposed, said recess being open to allow the entire system to be removed from the body of the incubator. In order to close the-opening 32, to prevent the heatof the boiler from entering the body at'this point, I provide a metalplate 33, one

of the longitudinal edges of which is bent upon'itself to form a channel guide 34, while the other edge thereof is provided with the inwardly extending spaced recesses 38. A channel guide 33 is provided and is adapted to be engaged over the smooth longitudinal edge of the plate 33 to form a guide for one of the outwardly.

turned edges 35 of the hood 37 Arranged within the central opening 40 of the boiler 21 is a cone 41 which is provided at its upper end with curved arms 42 adapt ed to-engage the top of the boiler so that the cone' will not drop down through the opening. It is understood that the cone is --adapted to help circulate the heat in the boiler, the heat from the flame of the heater coming up through and around the cone, causing the mixing of the cool and the warm air warming the same and generating the heat in and about the cone, and thus heating the water within the boiler. In'Fig. 9 I have illustrated a slightly-modified form, wherein circularly-arranged lugs 43 are secured to the upper endfof the cone and adapted to engage over the upper end of the boiler to support thecone Within'the boiler.

A moisture pan 44 is arranged upon the egg chamber, having its ends secured to the longitudinal pipes 22 by solder or other suitable means and is arranged transversely across the upper end of the egg chamber. This pan is to be kept warm at all times during the operation of the incubator and has to be refilled at various intervals by means of a tube 45, the lower end of which is provided'with the supporting lugs 46, two of said lugs are secured to'the bottom of the pan by any suitable means while the other two are each arranged at diametrically opposite points and are secured to the top edge of the pan, as shown at 46. In this manner the water, which is poured in through the tube 45, may quickly and easily pass into the pan. The moisture pan 44 will receive its heat from the pipes 22 and, as the cold water is poured into the pan, it is condensed and turned into steam which is forced about and over the eggs, and coming in contact with'the eggs, will by nature return to its natural state, that of water, will be practically warm and will be beneficial to the various stages of the formation of the chick.

The cover47 of the incubator is provided upon its edges with a molding 48 which extends upwardly beyond the top sides thereof and which is adapted to prevent the eggs from rolling off the top when placed there on. It will be readily understood that when turning the eggs in the incubator, the egg trays are removed and one end thereof placed upon the top 47, the eggs are then removed and placed upon the top along the molding 48 which will prevent the eggs from accidentally rolling off the top. The cover 47 is provided with the openings 49 and 50 which are adapted to receive the tubes 45' and 28, respectively,'and is also removably secured to the body of the incubator by means of the screwsfil.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided an incubator for hatching chickens'having a special construction and arrangement ofparts whereby it is believed that the hatching operation may be more'conveniently and economically carried out with less consumption of fuel and with better control of the heat than in such devices now on the market. It will be seen that water conveys the chicks to said chamber from the egg chamber above. The main object of this feature is to get the hatched chicks away from the eggs which have not yet been hatched so as to prevent the chicks from picking the eggs and also to prevent them from breathing up all the moist air in the egg chamber, as is the case where the chicks are not removed soon after hatching.

While I have shown and described the preferred form of my invention, it will be obvious that various changes in the details of construction and in the proportions may be resorted to for successfully carrying my invention into practice without sacrificing any of the novel features or departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is 1. An incubator including a casing, spaced heating pipes arranged therein for conveying a heating fluid, and a water retaining trough arranged within the incubator and suspended between said pipes, whereby the pipes form closures for the ends of the trough.

2. An incubator including a casing, spaced heating pipes arranged therein for conveying a heating fluid, a water retaining trough arranged within the incubator and suspended between said pipes, whereby the pipes form closures for the ends of the trough, a tube extending upwardly through the top of the incubator, and a plurality of divergently extended supporting legs formed integral with the lower end of the tube and adapted to be secured to the pan to support the tube whereby moisture may be readily supplied to the trough.

3. In combination with an incubator ineluding an egg chamber and a brooding chamber; of longitudinally and transversely extending pipes arranged in the egg chamher, a longitudinally extending drum arranged in the brooding chamber, a vertical pipe arranged at one side of the incubator and forming communication with the pipes in the egg chamber and said drum, a boiler arranged at one side of the incubator, a pipe forming communication between the upper end of the boiler and the pipes in the egg chamber, whereby warm water is conveyed to the pipes in the egg chamber, a second pipe forming connnunication between the drum in the brooding'chamber and the lower end of the boiler whereby the cooled water in the drum is returned to the boiler to be reheated, a moisture pan having its ends secured to the longitudinal pipes, a tube extending upwardly through the top of the incubator and having its lower end provided with a plurality of supporting legs adapted to be secured to the pan to support the tube, whereby water may be readily supplied to the moisture pan, a vertically disposed tube connected with one of the transverse pipes in the egg chamber, extending up through the top of the incubator whereby said circulating system may be readily filled, and an overflow pipe connected with said transverse pipe, whereby any superfluous water may be removed from the system.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in thepresence of two witnesses.

FRANK A. REIBER.

Witnesses:

J AMES A. PIES, HENRY N. ALTHAUS.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

